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> alter your assumptions on how and where memories are stored and retrieved I remember reading an anecdote about a baby who didn’t like being held by their fat

> alter your assumptions on how and where memories are stored and retrieved I remember reading an anecdote about a baby who didn’t like being held by their father, who happened to beat the baby’s mother during pregnancy. No idea of the veracity of the story but something about it had me thinking similarly about “instincts” and where they come from. The meaning of the word does seem to be a lot like memories that are “passed on for generations”.

simonh 3y ago
In late stage pregnancy babies in the womb can hear voices, and can often identify their father after birth by their voice immediately after birth. Violence often includes a lot of shouting, and physiological stress on the victim which would affect the baby. I’m guessing the baby learned to associate these.
ianmcgowan 3y ago
n=1, but I sang to both my daughters in the womb (different songs) and after they were born singing "their" song would calm them down a lot faster. I don't think this is as much "instincts" as it is "very early experiences".
- moehm 3y ago
  Make it n=2.
jl6 3y ago
Babies develop a preference for their primary caregiver, who is usually the mother. Young children generally are more cautious around men than women, which is probably good risk management. Instinctive? Possibly.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- Hendrikto 3y ago
  > probably good risk management Is it, though? This data [0] says otherwise. [0]: http://www.breakingthescience.org/SimplifiedDataFromDHHS.php http://www.breakingthescience.org/SimplifiedDataFromDHHS.php
  - thegiogi 3y ago
    Did they start collecting data 100k years ago? Cause that is the timescale for this stuff no?
  - dotancohen 3y ago
    This is an extraordinarily important point to make, especially in light of the GP comment and the perception that it reflects.
  - jl6 3y ago
    That’s one very specific type of risk, and a thankfully rare one. (That also appears to be a men’s rights activist site with an axe to grind on this subject). A more neutral source: https://bjs.ojp.gov/content/pub/pdf/htus8008.pdf https://bjs.ojp.gov/content/pub/pdf/htus8008.pdf … which suggests the opposite (but there’s not much in it). In terms of broader risks, males commit a clear majority of violent offences and a vast majority of sexual offences. This isn’t even just a human thing. Male primates (and mammals generally) exhibit more aggressive behavior than females. It’s probably a deep consequence of anisogamous sexual differentiation: https://www.cell.com/trends/ecology-evolution/fulltext/S0169-5347(12)00004-3 https://www.cell.com/trends/ecology-evolution/fulltext/S0169...
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]

simonh 3y ago

In late stage pregnancy babies in the womb can hear voices, and can often identify their father after birth by their voice immediately after birth. Violence often includes a lot of shouting, and physiological stress on the victim which would affect the baby. I’m guessing the baby learned to associate these.

ianmcgowan 3y ago

n=1, but I sang to both my daughters in the womb (different songs) and after they were born singing "their" song would calm them down a lot faster. I don't think this is as much "instincts" as it is "very early experiences".

moehm 3y ago
Make it n=2.

jl6 3y ago

Babies develop a preference for their primary caregiver, who is usually the mother. Young children generally are more cautious around men than women, which is probably good risk management. Instinctive? Possibly.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
Hendrikto 3y ago
> probably good risk management Is it, though? This data [0] says otherwise. [0]: http://www.breakingthescience.org/SimplifiedDataFromDHHS.php http://www.breakingthescience.org/SimplifiedDataFromDHHS.php
- thegiogi 3y ago
  Did they start collecting data 100k years ago? Cause that is the timescale for this stuff no?
- dotancohen 3y ago
  This is an extraordinarily important point to make, especially in light of the GP comment and the perception that it reflects.
- jl6 3y ago
  That’s one very specific type of risk, and a thankfully rare one. (That also appears to be a men’s rights activist site with an axe to grind on this subject). A more neutral source: https://bjs.ojp.gov/content/pub/pdf/htus8008.pdf https://bjs.ojp.gov/content/pub/pdf/htus8008.pdf … which suggests the opposite (but there’s not much in it). In terms of broader risks, males commit a clear majority of violent offences and a vast majority of sexual offences. This isn’t even just a human thing. Male primates (and mammals generally) exhibit more aggressive behavior than females. It’s probably a deep consequence of anisogamous sexual differentiation: https://www.cell.com/trends/ecology-evolution/fulltext/S0169-5347(12)00004-3 https://www.cell.com/trends/ecology-evolution/fulltext/S0169...
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]